The Other Carmine
by MiszE506
Summary: With the abandoning of the COG by Chairman Prescott, Gears are now Stranded and left to fend for themselves in small groups. One particular Gear is found by Delta and a familiar face brings up the past of the Carmine brothers.


_Dunno where I'm going with this but I wanted to make a serious Gears of War fanfic, starring my OC Corporal Eve Daniels and focusing on the Carmine brothers (sort of). It's suppose to take place some time before Gears of War 3 and such so some details are very vague. Anyway, enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Present Day – 16 A.E.<strong>

The Gear found herself buried underneath the debris; how she'd gotten there was merely a blur.

Explosions and gunshots were the last things that the corporal had heard, along with screams of help from her squad, but that was about it. They came out of nowhere, whatever _they_ were. She wasn't sure if it was the Lambent or the Locust, or even both. Hell, the Gear didn't even know how long ago that was. What she was sure about was that she could barely feel her body. The weight of the rubble was crushing her and it would be a matter of time until it reached through her armor to her organs.

Death was staring Eve Daniels right in the face but she refused to take his hand. The war had cost her everything, and her life would not be one of them. If she was going to die, it wouldn't be by some unknown battle that she didn't recall.

She began to pant. Her helmet wasn't doing anything to make breathing any easier. The filtration device was damaged by whatever threw her back and dirt was making its way into it. She could feel that her lungs weren't going to hold out much longer and that she'd soon fall into darkness.

And then there were voices. _Human_ voices. Some hope was restored but if they didn't find her in time, she decided that she'd be one pissed off ghost.

Delta formed a crooked v-shaped line, observing their surroundings carefully as they walked towards the destroyed village.

"That distress beacon was sent three days ago," Marcus commented, followed by a disapproving grunt.

"Might not even be distressing anymore by the looks of it," Baird remarked. Cole shoved him lightly enough to jerk him forward. "Hey! I ain't saying they're dead but I've got my doubts, too, y'know."

"That's why we're checking for survivors," Dom told him, a hint of annoyance in his tone. Baird really knew how to get on people's nerves, like he'd gone to school to learn how to. "We could use an extra pair of boots."

Baird scoffed. "I could go for a new pair of boots. Check for size 12s, will ya? I mean, if you can find them in one piece under all that shit."

They stopped in the middle of the village. Marcus and Dom looked at each other and slowly turned 360 degrees to look at what was left of the village. Most of the buildings had crumbled down to the ground; some were charred black from an explosion.

"He might be right, Marcus," Anya said from behind them. "Even if someone's alive, how do we expect to find them? And in one piece? It'd take days to search and we don't even have any spare hours to do that."

As Marcus mulled over their options, the newest addition to the squad found himself wandering aimlessly away. He was one of the last in his family. Two of his younger brothers had already died serving the COG and he hadn't heard from the third in a while. It'd just be nice if, for once, they could find someone alive.

And they just might. Baird was the first to take notice of him running away from them. He chased after him, Dom trailing behind after acknowledging Marcus's silent order, a simple nod, to follow. They ventured not too far down the street that they'd come from.

"Carmine! What the hell do you think you're trying to do, get yourself killed?" he yelled.

Dom had caught up and shot an angry glance at Baird. He knew better than to bring up the Carmine brothers but luckily for him, Clayton didn't notice and instead ran to his left. Again, the two chased after him until he stopped at a large hill of debris.

"All right, but seriously, what the _hell _are you doing?" he heard Baird behind him, catching his breath.

"You'd know if you wore your helmet…" He never knew why Delta didn't wear the COG helmet; the Tac/Com was much more efficient when it was worn. It proved helpful when finding others outside of your squad buried in a pile of rocks.

The location of the Gear appeared on his HUD as 'Corporal'; he'd found a survivor. His status: downed, but not out. He grinned a little, feeling achieved, and began to remove the rocks one by one as Baird and Dom watched him.

"Baird, what's your location?" Marcus asked over the comm, annoyed.

"Just down the road we came from," he replied. "Think you should get over here; the new Carmine's gone crazy or something."

The sound of rocks banging against the ground stopped as the rest of Delta came over. Marcus made his way over to Dom.

"I think he's found someone," Dom told him.

Marcus made a _hmph_ sound in the back of his throat. He walked towards the Carmine brother, who was now kneeling, and saw that he did in fact find someone. Though in one piece, Marcus felt that there was no chance that he was still alive. But if Clay had gone through all this trouble to find him, there had to be some sort of possibility.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Pull 'im out," he ordered Carmine.

When Clay didn't respond, Fenix nudged him aside and reached in for the Gear himself. He laid the still body on the ground and stood over it as Delta gathered around. Clay, however, kept his distance. The scratches on the armor and the cuts on his arms showed that he went through hell just to end up like this.

It was Dom who was curious enough to check the body. His hands first went to the COG tags resting neatly on the neck.

"Corporal Evelyn Daniels," he read to himself. His eyes wandered off to her date of birth. Dom waved away the thought of figuring out her age to compare with Sylvia and removed her COG tags. After a moment of silence, he took her hand and held it, only to feel some pressure. It was very light but Dom managed to sense the small presence of life in her.

His hands moved to her helmet and removed it. Dark brown eyes blinked rapidly from being exposed to the sudden sunlight and soon stared back at him. He helped the corporal up slowly and allowed almost all her weight to lean on him. It wasn't very much for a girl her size but even Anya was heavier. Either she wasn't fed enough or she'd been under there long enough to lose that much weight.

Her arms and legs ached as she stretched. Eve looked at the faces before her, taking note of the infamous Marcus Fenix first. She was in the company of Delta squad, looking as sorry-assed as a gung-ho, green-as-grass rookie. She went to give her savior a hug but stopped short. Instead she nodded appreciatively towards him. It was more professional anyway.

"What happened here, Daniels?" Marcus asked her.

"Routine patrol with my squad and some Stranded we picked up." Eve shrugged. "Then we got hit by something and I woke up in the dark. How'd you find me anyway?"

He jerked his head towards the only Gear wearing a helmet. "You can thank Carmine later. Right now we're just looking for a place to rest and this isn't what I had in mind."

_Carmine._

She stood in her place, repeating the name, as Marcus ordered Baird and Cole to scout ahead for shelter with JACK. Dom returned her COG tags, patted her on the shoulder, and regrouped with Marcus and Anya on the street. Eve and Carmine remained in the alley where they'd found her, standing a few feet from each other. His back was turned to her and his feet were kicking the dirt. The noise stopped as she inched her way towards his right side.

Silence. Silence was never a good sign. You waited in silence when you heard the slightest out-of-place sound and after battles to see if there was more to come. It created paranoia of about almost anything you did in silence. What she hated most about it was what would break it. Gunshots were the most common but in this case it was something she'd never expect.

Eve could hear him taking short breaths now. She could see him through the corner of her eye, head bowed and arms reaching for his helmet to take it off. The strong-willed, brown-haired boy she'd known since childhood – her brother, her only family – was exposed now, tears streaming down his face and drops spilling from the chin of his helmet. He attempted to wipe them away but the dirt on his bare arm mixed with the tears and created a muddy texture on his face.

"Shit, Clayton. Just… shit," Eve whispered as she pulled him into a hug. His chest heaved against hers as he uncontrollably continued that kind of crying where you felt like your heart was going to burst right then and there.

"Carmine! Daniels! We're moving!" Fenix's voice called out to them, echoing throughout the alley.

The two pulled apart from each other, though it was Clay who didn't want to let go. He held onto her hand while he placed the helmet onto his head with the other. Eve gave him a reassuring smile as she led him back onto the street with the rest of Delta. _Everything was going to be fine_, he told himself.


End file.
